The Addition
by esther247
Summary: After Zatanna returns from a life-threatening mission, she and Dick (now retired as Nightwing) receive interesting news that forces them to take a good hard look at their relationship and pending future together. Separate story from Legacy, The Alternative, and etc.


"What happened?" Dick growled through clenched teeth at the men standing before him.

He looked at Tim, in his civilian clothes while he was looked at the ground avoiding Dick's glare.

Kaldur stepped in his line of sight and obstructed his view, "The enemy had the advantage of surprise and of the home field. We didn't – "

Dick shook his head fiercely, "No, you didn't but you should've and now -!"

"She knew the risk of the mission and accepted it." Bruce cut him off. "Like we all do."

Dick's already balled fists seemed to close in on themselves further, his knuckles going white. He opened his mouth and before anything could come out a nurse walked up to the group of tensed men and cleared her throat.

"She's stable now," she said quietly, Dick's entire demeanor changed, relief ate away at his anger and he exhaled loudly. "She has a punctured lung and isn't awake just yet. She's quite lucky really, her and the baby should be just fine after a few days rest."

Bruce went pale and Tim's head snapped up.

"What?" Dick choked. "What baby?"

The nurse looked at his shocked state and then to Bruce and Tim, "Ye..Yes," she started again looking at the chart and then at the men again, "She's pregnant, only about a month or two along, but I guess…..maybe she might not have been aware of this?" she said questioningly.

Aqualad cleared his throat and clapped the back of Dick's back. "Congratulations my friend." He said firmly.

The nurse took this moment to escape and Bruce cleared his throat, "Yes, congratulations."

When Dick walked into the room, he was still in shock. He looked over and saw her dark hair strewn across the pillow, her face was ashened and there was no color in her plump lips, her dainty but strong hands were bruised and bloody. He felt like he was looking at two different people, he sighed and resigned himself to the seat near the bed.

He took her small hands in his, and bought it to his face. "Zee," his voice got stuck in his throat a little and he cleared it. He placed her hand back on the bed and got up, his hands moved without his permission to do so placing themselves lightly on her stomach and feeling the invisible bump there.

Tears streaked down his face violently, he couldn't believe it, she was pregnant and he was -

Zatanna smiled meekly at him and laughed, "Hey lover boy," she croaked.

A smile split his face in two and before she could say anything else he grabbed her face gently to kiss her passionately. He could feel her face flush and breathing catch as her quiet moan melted into the kiss just before he pulled away and brought their foreheads together.

"Hmmm," she hummed throatily, "what was that for? I want more of those." She joked finally getting to look at his face. She noted the tears and blanched.

"What's wrong?" she whispered. "I thought I got everyone out of the way…." She mused trying to calculate what could've gone wrong other than getting caught in the blast radius of the bomb.

"Nothing's wrong," he promised her.

"Then why are you crying?" she asked. "What is it?"

She gasped and started flexing her fingers and toes, she felt fine….sore, achy, but fine.

But if Dick was crying it couldn't be good news. She swallowed convulsively and steeled herself before whispering. "Is something wrong with me?"

He shook his head and smiled blindly, "No Zee, you're perfect."

She rolled her eyes and let her body relax deeper into the bed. "Yeah right, I've got more dings than a-"

"You're pregnant." He said suddenly.

Zatanna looked at him, her big blue eyes wide, and bruised face alert.

"What?" she asked as if she hadn't heard him.

"Zatanna," he said grabbing her hand gently, "you're pregnant."

She pulled her hand out of his and shook her head in disbelief, "No, I'm not. I can't be." She said as she started counting back days to her last cycle.

"The nurse said you're only a month or two along, that you probably wouldn't have even noticed it yourself." He bent down and kissed her again excitedly. "Zee, this is incredible. We're going to be parents, we're going to have a family!

"Dick." Zatanna said trying to get his attention.

"I know it's unexpected but we can do this. God, after all we've been through, this is amazing and we weren't even trying."

"Dick," she said again.

"We can add a room to the apartment and make space there, but that means we would have to amend our contract. Maybe we should just wait until the lease is up and move. I mean, you've inherited a mansion that makes Bruce's look like a closet. We can put aside a trust fund now for college and I can have Luscious draw inheritance documentation way before the baby is here." he continued.

"Dick!" she shouted finally getting his attention. "Stop. Just stop."

"Zee…" he started.

Her eyes steeled in anger. "Dick….I'm not okay with this. I don't want to be pregnant and I'm sorry but I really don't think I am. There has to be a mix up and I'm sorry that you're so excited but this is not something -if its true- that I want to celebrate, not now."

"Zatanna," he started again.

"I'm not kidding Dick," she said trying to sit up. "Ughh." Her hands moved to her side, where her punctured lung was no doubt bothering her. She sat up in spite of the pain and started meticulously disconnecting herself from the monitors and morphine.

"What are you doing?" Dick asked genuinely confused.

"Leaving," Zatanna responded coolly.

He grabbed her hand as she went to take the needle out of her arm. "Zatanna, you've got a punctured lung, bruises covering every inch of your body, and whether you want to believe it or not; you're pregnant. You can't go anywhere, at least not in this condition. Let's figure out the rest later but for now stay…..please just stay."

Zatanna looked at his hand on hers; she hung her head and bit down on her quivering bottom. She shook her head in an attempt to stop the tears she could feel coming but failed. She hid her face behind her hands and started to sob. He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly while she cried.

"I don't get it Zee, this is what we've always wanted; family." He muttered, she shook her head again and pulled away from him.

She laid back down on the hospital bed and stared at the ceiling while tears streamed down her face silently, Dick let go of her hand and sat down in the seat beside the bed and looked at the floor angrily.

The thoughts ran rampantly his mind, depressing and frustrating him.

 _ **How could she not want this? How could she be unhappy even if it wasn't planned?**_

Everyone who knew Dick knew how much family, a legacy, meant to him and Zatanna was no exception.

 _ **When did she change her mind? Why didn't she tell me? What was she going to do now? It was their baby but her body. Didn't she care at all? Didn't she love him enough to do this with him?**_

It seemed like hours had gone by before her tears receded and she spoke.

"How am I supposed to save him now?" She whispered. "He's _**my**_ family Dick, he's all I have left. I can't just run off, start a new family and forget about him. I made a promise, to him, to myself….I can't be pregnant now. I can't have a family now, not without him. I don't know how to."

Dick looked at her, bruised and battered, but still as resilient as ever. Though it was true, they had both grown up orphans, Zatanna's father was still alive.

Alive but living as a prisoner, always two feet away and two steps ahead of her physically and magically, taunting her, pushing her, driving her. She grew more and more powerful everyday, she made sure to train harder than the day before and studied his every move, every battle and yet…..he still felt leagues out of her reach.

"I didn't realize you felt that way." Dick admitted.

Zatanna gazed out of the window, the sun had long set and the glow of city began to dim with the human consciousness.

"Me either." she breathed wiping away a fallen tear.

"But you don't have to forget him Zee, he's your family. This baby, it's not the marker of a different family it's the marker of an addition to one. It's the continuance of _**his**_ legacy Zee, so when you free him and Zatara sees this baby through his eyes, not Nabu's, for the time I can't imagine him loving anything more. Because it'll be of extension of him and more importantly an extension of you; his most loved possession in the multiverse." He said while recapturing her hand in his.

Zatanna looked at him and Dick decided she was debating whether to believe him or not. She pursed her lips and looked at him inquisitively.

"How do you always know exactly what to say?" she asked in a feigned annoyed tone.

Dick smiled, "Because I'm going to be a dad." he said excitedly, squeezing her hand.

She laughed through her sniffles.

"Yeah, you are." she said.

He laced their fingers together, and kissed her forehead before moving his lips to her abdomen.

"Welcome to the family." he whispered.


End file.
